The new director of the Mingei International Museum has stepped down, just weeks after he took the job.

James Goodwin told museum colleagues Oct. 28 that he was quitting the Balboa Park institution for "unforeseen personal reasons." Rob Sidner, the Mingei's assistant director since 1996, has been named acting director.

Goodwin was hired in early October after a six-month, nationwide search for a successor to Martha Longenecker, who founded the museum and led it for 27 years.

Maureen Pecht King, vice chairman of the board, said the Mingei will not seek another permanent director immediately.

"We are going to give this about six months to settle out," said King, who led the original search.

Sidner said Goodwin's departure was "a surprise to us. He had begun with great enthusiasm and assertiveness." Although he didn't know the details of why Goodwin quit, Sidner said it was "nothing connected to the museum in any way. He made that clear."

Before joining the museum, Goodwin had been consulting director of the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles. He is a former director of marketing and communications for Los Angeles' Pacific Design Center, and also ran Galleria Frau in New York.

The Mingei got its start at the University Towne Centre mall in 1978. Then known as the Mingei International Museum of World Folk Art, it was inspired by the teachings of Soetsu Yanagi, a Japanese scholar who coined the term "mingei." (It's based on the Japanese words "min," meaning people, and "gei," meaning art.)

The institution moved to Balboa Park in 1996. In 2003, it opened an annex in downtown Escondido.

The Mingei has a $2 million budget and hosts about 100,000 visitors each year.